CLARION, Iowa — Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, stumping in Iowa with her husband Marcus on Sunday, dismissed a self-described “gay-friendly Iowan,” telling her that the Kinsey Report has “been a myth for several years.”
At a campaign stop in north central Iowa, the Bachmanns were confronted by resident Kathy Schnell, who wondered allowed if any of the Bachmann’s children might be gay.
“I wonder if you’re aware that 10% of the population is gay. And if you have 28 children, then 2.8 of those kids are very likely gay,” Schnell commented.
“Well, that’s according to the Kinsey Report,” the candidate replied.
Dr. Alfred Kinsey is best known for conducting interviews with thousands of individuals and publishing his findings in books on human sexual behavior during the 1940s and ’50s.
Bachmann’s husband, who runs a clinic in their district in Minnesota that has long been accused of conducting “reparative therapy” by trying to help gay individuals become straight, then chimed in.
“Your facts are wrong,” he said.
“That’s not valid?” Schnell asked back.
“No it isn’t,” Michele Bachmann said. Her husband added, “No, it’s not at all. It’s been a myth for many years.”
The Kinsey Reports, first published in 1948 and 1953, are frequently used to support the common estimate of that 10 percent of the general population is homosexual — the reports also state that nearly 46 percent of the male subjects had “reacted” sexually to persons of both sexes in the course of their adult lives, and 37 percent had at least one homosexual experience.
A more recent study by the Williams Institute at UCLA’s School of Law estimates that 9 million people across the United States identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, comprising 3.5% of the adult population.
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The report also concluded that an estimated 19 million Americans (8.2 percent) report that they have engaged in same-sex sexual behavior and nearly 25.6 million Americans (11 percent) acknowledge at least some same-sex sexual attraction.
Schnell, who told CNN she is a Democrat, called Michele Bachmann “adorable,” but added, “I just don’t think she should be our president.”
